MOTORING NOTES

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LVII, Issue 10147, 9 August 1929, Page 4

MOTORING NOTES

RUNNING COSTS

As the burden of taxation borne by motorists is always increased rather than reduced, it is up to motorists themselves to endeavour to keep down their running costs. One of the first things that a novice should clearly understand is that maintaining high speeds is one of the surest ways of running up expenses. Fuel consumption increases at a surprising rate, even the best engine tends to fling out oil, the life of tyre* is shortened considerably, and if the speed is maintained without any regard to the road surface, breakages may result. Few motorists now-a-days have sufficient patience to limit their speed of travel to 25 m.p.h. on the open road, yet if the experiment were tried for a month the difference in running costs between driving under those conditions and, say, 40 m.p.h. whenever the opportunity presented itself, would bo appreciable. It is possible, however, to strike the happy medium by touring along at about 30 m.p.h. and obtaining thereby the maximum enjoyment from the countryside. Incidentally, it is surprising, but nevertheless a true fact that the time taken to accomplish any given distance at a speed never exreeding 30 mp.h. is very little more than when 1 one indulges in frequent bursts of 40 m.p.h. Probably the governing factor is not relative speed at all, but the obstructions which are met with in the course of an ordinary run and which have a far greater effect on the highspeed car than on that of the slow-er-moving vehicle. A somewhat parallel may be drawn between the the conditions which arise when violent acceleration and deceleration are indulged in as compared with getting away gently and pulling up in similar fashion. In the former case tyres wear more quickly —the Dunlop Co. state that an increase of IU miles an hour in speed doubles the rate of wear between 30 and 50 m.p.fi. —more fuel is consumed, brake linings do not last so long, and a far greater degree of wear and tear is imposed on the vehicle itself. The actual saving in time, moreover, may under many conditions be hardly appreciable. If for example a driver knows quite definitely that he will have to slow down behind a large furniture van rumbling along m the distance, he might just as well lake his toot oft the accelerator and “close up" without using the brakes at all. To maintain a fairly high speed until within forty or hfty yards of the van and then heavily apply the brakes is merely spectacular and decidedly wasteful. In this and other ways, love of the spectacular costs a driver shillings, if not pounds Some people make no effort to economize in petrol. They are content to take the car as it stands, and if the consumption is so great as 20 m.p.g., to shrug their shoulders and surrender themselves to the inevitable; but if one were to point out to them that they had a leaky tap, or that the garage hand was not over particular as to the way he filled the tank, or when the car was left standing the carburetter habitually tended to flood a little, they might take a sudden interest iin the problem, and by giving attention to these points he might' bo surprised do discover that he was obtaining at least another five miles to every gallon—an appreciable saving in the course of a year. A successful attempt to cut down running costs does not end with lowering fuel consumption. There arc other factors which enter into the question of which the novice knows practically very little, the export a great deal, often as a result of bitter experience.